Dreamer

Self Portrait Series 6/52

I’m a total dreamer. I’ve actually had super vivid dreams since I was a little girl, but that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about daydreaming. I love to dream about my future, my past, my goals, my aspirations, etc. I thrive on ideas! I love coming up with puzzling situations in my mind and then solving them. Or wondering, if I magically went back in time 500 years to this exact spot, how would I survive? I don’t know why I play these games in my mind, but I think it’s because I’m a dreamer. I love strategy games, puzzles, complex crafts and creating things. I feel like it’s sometimes considered immature to be a dreamer, but as more and more people share their talents on social media, we see that being a creator and a dreamer isn’t a bad thing. 

My Lifelong Hobby

As a kid, I would always dream about adventures and random scenarios. I loved science and learning about the scientific method, because I literally went through it daily in my mind. I’d have a thought and take it all the way to experimentation and then draw my own conclusions. I did that with physical things, like baking, cooking and sewing -  to intellectual and spiritual thoughts and impressions, to even testing relationships to see how things would turn out. Sometimes I got in big trouble, but I learned and tried again and experimented until it worked. 

As a teen, I spent most of my time dreaming about boys. I often pondered what it would be like to have a boyfriend or to kiss a boy. I may have obsessed a little too much over some of my crushes. Like, it was hard to get through middle school math because my all-time biggest crush was in my class. Is it weird that at night I would dream we were cuddling? Not in a weird sexual way, but in a longing to be loved kind of way. Of course I even kissed my pillow to try it out, but it felt weird and nothing like kissing a guy in real life. Oh, the struggles of being a hormonal teenager! 

From a young age, I always wanted to be a judge when I grew up. I enjoyed dreaming up different moral dilemmas, and puzzling over how I’d handle different cases if I were in charge. Not in an authoritative way, but in a real life, “how do you deal with this” kind of way. 

As someone with the superpower of ADHD, I often got in trouble for not paying more attention. Now I see that I probably needed medication, but I’m glad I spent so much time in my own little world. I learned a lot about myself in those daydreaming days. 

Dream On

A lifetime of daydreaming has helped me develop some of my greatest strengths. It’s made me more self aware, a better problem solver, better at brainstorming, more eager to try new things, and more ambitious. I absolutely love that I get to use my right brain to dream, plan and create everyday. It’s what I was made for! Sure, I use my left brain a lot too, but I really love entering the world of my imagination where anything is possible. It’s like playtime in my mind, where my inner child gets to come out and share all her great ideas. 

Do you consider yourself a dreamer? Were you taught that it’s a good thing or a bad thing to daydream? How has that shaped you? Where are my logical thinkers at? Does constant daydreaming sound weird to you? What’s it like inside your head?